Hey, Card Party!
Are you looking for an exciting way to elevate your language skills this year? If you are, then there's a powerful tool that often goes unnoticed but holds immense potential for self-learners: language challenges.
I’ve hosted and participated in enough language challenges over the years to confirm their short- and long-term benefits for hundreds of learners around the world. Spoiler alert: you should definitely consider joining one if you’re still reading this!
In this post, we'll delve into the exciting realm of language challenges by exploring what they are, where to find them, their benefits, and how they can supercharge your language learning journey. We’ll even talk a bit about our free social media challenges and our growing Challenger Membership!
Ready? Let’s jump right in!
What are Language Challenges?
Language challenges are groups of structured activities designed to push language learners out of their comfort zones and encourage consistent practice and improvement.
How long are these challenges?
They come in various forms, ranging from daily vocabulary challenges to weekly immersion challenge schedules to follow at your own pace. Some challenges are shorter in nature, ranging from 7-14 days. Others can be one month long, or even up to 90 days!
What do I have to do?
These challenges often incorporate tasks such as speaking prompts, writing exercises, listening comprehension, and vocabulary drills to enhance specific language skills or hit a range of special topics in a short period of time. You could find yourself building for a specific outcome or for the glory of saying that you studied new things every day.
Who creates these challenges?
Many content creators and language-related brands use language challenges as a way to connect with their online communities or help language learners connect with one another through a shared experience. Often times, you’ll get access to a group chat or community forum to help you stay motivated throughout the challenge.
Pretty cool stuff, right?
Where to Find Language Challenges:
Fortunately, in today's interconnected world, language challenges are easily accessible to anyone with a phone, computer, laptop, or tablet. You can find them across various platforms, including language learning apps, online forums, social media, and dedicated language challenge websites like this one!
Can I join if I'm a beginner?
Of course!
These challenges cater to learners of all levels, from beginners to advanced learners, offering diverse content and formats to suit individual preferences and goals. They’re also easy to modify to fit into different time commitments and lifestyles. Think of it as a combination of structure with DIY language activities.
Social Media Challenges vs. Paid Challenges:
When it comes to language challenges, you'll encounter both social media-driven challenges and paid programs. If you're asking which one I recommend, both offer benefits to language learners and are definitely worth a try!
Social media challenges
Social media challenges, often hosted by language influencers or communities, are typically free and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. They provide a sense of community and motivation as participants share their progress on their personal social media pages and support each other by interacting with other participants’ updates.
The only downside is that the topics tend to jump from subject to subject, making it difficult to use as a long-term resource. Even still, many learners use the varied topics in a challenge to figure out which activities they'd like to use in their regular study routine.
If you’re already on social media regularly, joining a challenge is as easy as taking a picture of your notebook and tagging the language challenge host(s). For this reason, social media events are a great introduction to the challenge world.
Psst! We host free social media challenges every 3 months~ Follow our Instagram page so you can join the next one!
Paid Challenges
Paid challenges offer structured guidance, comprehensive resources, and even personalized feedback from language experts and/or hosts. While they require a financial investment, they often provide higher-quality content and a more tailored learning experience.
If you want guidance on how to write letters, prep for an exam, or even create a speech, then paid challenges can be particularly beneficial for you. Learners seeking targeted improvement in specific areas or looking for a more intensive and focused approach to language learning tend to search for paid challenges from language creators.
Psst! We have paid language challenges ;) Take a look at our current challenges list here.
Benefits of Language Challenges
Language challenges are incredibly versatile and can target various combinations of the four core language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Whether you're aiming to expand your vocabulary, improve your pronunciation, enhance your comprehension skills, or boost your confidence in conversations, there's a language challenge tailored to your needs out there.
Reading Challenges: Engage in daily reading challenges that expose you to diverse texts and genres, expanding your vocabulary and comprehension skills.
Challenges like the 31-Day Instagram Language Bloom we host in March would be a great place to start!
Writing Challenges: Participate in writing prompts and exercises to practice grammar, sentence structure, and creative expression. Our most viral team-based Instagram challenge, the 31-Day Language Olympics, is another great opportunity to experience a free challenge in June.
Consider purchasing the 2023 Language Olympics Journal here to access all of the old challenges.
Listening Challenges: Challenge yourself with audio materials, podcasts, or videos to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation.
Our 30-Day Language Harvest in September on Instagram is as eventful as it sounds with its engaging daily listening activities fit for the changing season.
***Coming Soon: September 2024***
Speaking Challenges: Take part in speaking challenges that involve role-playing, conversation practice, or presentations to enhance fluency and confidence in speaking.
Join the 30-Day Language Blizzard in December on Instagram if you’re looking for a way to boost your speaking skills before the end of the year!
That’s right! We host free 1-month language challenges on our Instagram page every 3 months, and our community has been loving the experience so far :)
Speak in Spades Challenge Membership:
For language learners looking to take even bigger steps in their language learning journeys, we have something special!
Our Challenger Membership offers an unparalleled opportunity to practice a language with a growing list of guided challenges year-round at the affordable price of $10 per month.
The Creators & The Vision
I'm Tiara, the linguist, language lover, polyglot, educator, and content creator behind Speak in Spades. I graduated from Rutgers University in 2018 with a Latin and Ancient Greek major, Linguistics minor, and over 40 hours of practice in language education.
I've been working as an English instructor in South Korea since 2019, and I'll be guiding you through a series of themed challenges using the same strategy that has helped hundreds of learners around the world find joy in their studying languages: turning anything and everything into a resource.
My good friend Niyah, who is the language coach who started our viral social media language challenge series in 2022, is also creating a 12-month learning track! The full plan will be broken down into 1-month weekly action plans themed around using your house to learn languages.
With the Challenger Membership, you'll get access to her full lesson plan series AND all current and upcoming challenges on our site to get you from zero to hero in whichever language you're studying!
We’ll be covering a wide range of topics and durations to fit you at any stage in your language journey. To start, join a membership, pick a challenge, and use a mix of the resources you have and your favorite translation tools to reach your learning goals.
Game over:
Language challenges are a game-changer in the world of language learning, offering a fun, engaging, and effective way to sharpen your language skills. Whether you're a beginner looking to kickstart your journey or an advanced learner seeking to fine-tune your abilities, there's a language challenge waiting for you.
To sum it up: Just pick one already!
Don't forget to check out our other blog posts for more tips on using games for language learning, and follow us on social media for language challenges, behind-the-scenes content, and more language learning goodness!
Ready to take your language learning to the next level? Visit the membership page of our website to learn more about our Challenger Membership and join a thriving community of language enthusiasts committed to reaching their full potential.
Happy Gaming and Language Learning! 🎲📚💬
Study like a diamond ♢ Practice like a club ♣ Vibe like a heart ♡ Speak like a spade ♠